The present invention relates in general to electric powered personnel carrying vehicles that are particularly useful in transporting items retrieved from shelves in a warehouse, or as a work platform which allows an operator to be raised approximately six feet or more into the air, for example to retrieve or place items of merchandise on shelves of a retail store and, more particularly, to load trays which can be utilized on such vehicles to support items to be handled by operators utilizing such vehicles.
Small parts picking is commonly done by personnel manually pushing carts equipped with several shelves and a low level ladder which the operator climbs for reaching stock items up to nine feet high. Higher elevation picking, up to 12 feet, is accomplished with large manual push-in-place mobile ladder stands. Both the carts and mobile ladder stands require the operator to climb up and down while manually holding the goods.
A compact aerial lift vehicle which can be used for parts picking is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,273,132. The vehicle is separable into several parts for storage and can be controlled by an operator supported upon a platform which can be elevated along a vertical post member removably mounted upon a body of the vehicle. Unfortunately, the aerial lift vehicle of the '132 patent is of limited utility since only a small-sized basket is provided for the operator such that the operator must still manually hold items too large to fit into the basket. Further, there is no provision for supporting items on the body of the vehicle for transportation of those items utilizing the vehicle.
Accordingly, there is a need for an improved personnel carrying vehicle which includes a load tray mounted on and movable with an expandable mast of the vehicle so that an operator of the vehicle does not need to manually hold any items which can be handled by the operator utilizing the vehicle. Alternately, or preferably in addition to the mast mounted load tray, the vehicle would include a load deck or load platform for carrying items on the vehicle for transportation of the items.